28 Comments

My Grand Father rode one exactly like this one, when he was at Medical School in N. Carolina in the early 30’s. he had bought it in Maryland. He left Texas to go to MS and went to Maryland to visit family. He needed transportation and his Uncle and family that he was visiting was in the Police Department as well, and recommended the Henderson, just like the one he had in the job with the Maryland DMV……. it was a Henderson, my GF fell in love with it and bought a used one at an Auto Shop that repaired cars and bikes. I will try to find the picture, but he always told stories about the Henderson he had and the power it had, the speeds he reached, and that it was so well built. He hardly ever had to do anything to it, but replace tires. It had to be a 1927/8.

its a 1912 henderson police special, and if you had it today would be work a quarter mil UNRESTORED, as there’s less than half a dozen known to exist. Your granddad rode in the height of his days style.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful information. My Grandfather died around 1958. The photo was taken in Baltimore, I think in the 1920’s. He was a Maryland State Policeman which as Dave indicates was an arm of the Maryland DMV at that time. Two stories I recall were that he used to race his bike at Marlboro racetrack (a horse track) in Southern Maryland and that he left the State Police not long after giving the Governor a ticket for speeding. Fact or fiction? I don’t know. Thanks again for all your help.

There was an Indian that looked like that. Saw one at the Barber MotorSports Museum last spring. Of course, the bikes there dazzled my brain and even my camera went cross eyed from all the eye candy before I left that place… Everyone needs to visit that place at least once. That was my second visit, and I plan to go back next spring. Anyway, it’s old, and intriguing.

Thanks jkwade. I am pretty sure I saw an E-H branded bike similar to this one in a small museum in PA. I wouldn’t swear to it though.

Since this guy in the photo seems to be wearing a uniform; I’m wondering if the tank writing is an applique of some kind over the normal branding. The language of ‘motor vehicles’ on it may indicate a bureau or department of some kind, like official livery. The original question from Richard J. confirms that.

Great eye, that is definitely a trademark trait. In 1917, Henderson was sold to Schwinn. Schwinn already owned Excelsior, so the two were a part of the same company from then on. Unfortunately, all my books are in boxes at the moment, but I am 99% sure that there was at least one model that bore the names of both companies before they folded in the early 30s.

I feel like I can see a very faded “X” behind the “Motor Vehicles” badge, which is indicative of an Excelsior. But if Barry Brown says he owns one of these and it is a Henderson, that is far more conclusive evidence.

Great responses. The through-fender suspension/fork arrangement and deep fender are definitely E-H signifiers. I did think that E-H was used as a name before the rebirth of the company in 1999; but I could easily be wrong.

My guess was that it was either a Henderson or an Ace. But I have to defer to our friend Barry Brown and his posting above. Surely he knows!

Excelsior and Henderson were separate companies – Excelsior (a division of Schwinn bicycles) made the Super X v-twin, while Henderson made the fours.

Ignatz Schwinn, owner of Excelsior, bought Henderson and ran them as one company. but the combination Henderson-Excelsior name (or is it Excelsior-Henderson?) is really that of the failed bike that the Hanlons marketed in 1999-2000.

From Wikipedia “Henderson produced 4-cylinder motorcycles from 1912 until 1931. They were the largest and fastest motorcycles of their time, and appealed to sport riders and police departments. Police favored them for traffic patrol because they were faster than anything on the roads. The company began during the golden age of motorcycling, and ended during the Great Depression.”